COCOA — The news of the day was hardly upbeat. An earthquake had hit Los Angeles, but right-wing magazine publisher Robert White wasn't concerned with cracks in the Hollywood Freeway.

Peering over his bifocals nervously, White dipped into his economic tea leaves and foresaw something much worse: ''We're on the verge of a 1929 crash.''

That's crash as in Great Depression and the collapse of political order, brought on by what White insists is a pending string of Texas bank failures.

Although he said the disaster might be averted, White couldn't care less if every politician in Washington goes down the tubes for that or any other reason.

In fact, his only reason for living the past eight years has been to dump the nation's political machinery.

''They'll cater and pimp to whoever gives them money to get re-elected,'' said White.

White's extremist one-man crusade against the status quo began in 1980 with the publication of the Duck Book, an ultra-conservative magazine that railed against communists, liberals, welfare recipients and ''pacifist turkeys.''

He is so right wing that not even Mr. Conservative himself, Ronald Reagan, is spared his wrath.

''He sold out the day he came into office and will go down in history as one of our worst presidents,'' said White, 61.

Written at an old boarded-up house next to his rural Cocoa home, the paid circulation of the Duck Book peaked at nearly 100,000 readers before it headed downhill and was laid to rest early this year.

White has replaced it with The Millionaire's Manual, which contains the same political philosophy wrapped around hard-core conservative economic doctrine.

If White can't topple Congress, he at least wants to trash the Federal Reserve Board, a feeling he says is shared by many of the 55,000 subscribers who call his new publication gospel.

Rabid to the bone, they send him bags of fan mail and as much as $200 each to pack seminars in Las Vegas, Nev., and Fort Lauderdale to learn how to get rich and hate the government at the same time.

That may sound like a bizarre way to start a revolution, but White, who has been labeled everything from an eccentric millionaire to a dangerous fanatic, is hardly conventional to begin with.

''I've found out most people don't care about politics,'' White said of his switch in publication tactics. ''Ninety-nine percent of the people in this country just want enough money to make their car payment, their house payment and have a few dollars left to buy a six-pack.''

Although White's disenchanted constituency has been reading him for some time, he began drawing national attention when a man who attended a meeting of Duck Book devotees in Seattle went on a vicious Christmas Eve 1985 killing spree.

David Lewis Rice is charged with stabbing and bludgeoning to death Charles Goldmark, a prominent Seattle lawyer and liberal Democratic activist. He also is accused of killing Goldmark's wife and two children in the same way.

Rice has confessed to the slayings, calling himself an anti-communist soldier who learned of Goldmark at the meeting of Duck Book loyalists.

He recently pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, an illness his attorneys said was worsened by his association with White's right-wing group. White scoffs at the idea that he is in any way responsible for the crimes, saying Rice apparently just walked in off the street and pulled up a chair with his Duck Book fans.

''He was an absolute nut we had nothing to do with at all,'' White said. ''The people at that meeting were good common folk, retirees in their 60s and 70s who get together to talk about politics and economics.

''There's not a violent bone in their bodies and I've never advocated violence, for God's sake. But the liberal reporters have to write something so they jazz it up.''

White says he makes no money off his publication, although he did make a bundle years ago with a business that cleaned the tire rubber off airport runways.

He said he monopolized the specialized service and was able to retire early.

Along with his wife, Donna, and young daughter, White lives in a solar- power home on 8 acres of pine trees.

Roaming free are dozens of ducks, hence the name of his original political manifesto.

White and a small group of dedicated helpers mail out as many as 12,000 solicitation letters a day for The Millionaire's Manual, cruising off to the post office in a pair of Mercedes Benz station wagons.

Inside a recent issue were articles ranging from ''Trading Gold and Silver'' to ''Florida Crackers,'' an appeal to state residents to defeat Gov. Bob Graham's bid for the U.S. Senate.

Although White admits the chances of achieving his radical agenda probably rank around none, he says has no intention of stopping until he drops in his office.

''I'll die right in this chair,'' he said. ''That's what keeps me going.''